Acrylic acid grafted polymers are known in the art. By way of illustration, U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,488 discloses metal lubricant compositions containing poly(oxyalkylene) compounds grafted with about 3 to 15% by weight of acrylic or methacrylic acid followed by neutralization with alkanolamine. That patent discloses at column 7, lines 50 to 68 and column 8, lines 1 to 15, that such a polymer, when used in aqueous monoethanolamine borate solution is effective in providing cast iron corrosion resistance protection.
Heretofore, the effects of polymerizable-acid grafted polymers on aluminum surfaces have not been seen or explored in the literature. It has now been surprisingly found that aqueous and/or alcohol solutions of a certain class of such polymers have a particularly beneficial effect in inhibiting aluminum corrosion, most notably with respect to an aggressive form of aluminum corrosion, namely that which occurs at "heat rejecting" aluminum surfaces such as solar panels and the cylinder heads and blocks of internal combustion engines. This finding is particularly significant in view of the fact that there is increasing reliance on the use of aluminum components in the manufacture of heat transfer systems, such as those in solar and automotive systems, as part of an overall trend toward weight reduction.